A Different Kind of Love
by missy52061
Summary: Rick and Kate celebrate Valentine's Day in the future. As always, I don't own Castle.


"Babe, could you grab the package of diapers? It's with the stuff I brought home last night from the drugstore…"

Rick nodded even though he knew Kate couldn't see him. She was in the office/playroom (the world was totally different when you had three kids under the age of five), changing Jake's diaper. She had noticed they were almost out yesterday, so she had grabbed a package because their next delivery wasn't coming yet. He looked over at the kids at the table – Lily was happily "drawing" a picture for Mommy while Reece was sitting in his high chair, feeding himself Cheerios and bits of mashed banana. Rick picked up the package and walked into the room where his wife and other son were.

"Thanks! I meant to pick it up on my way in here, but I got sidetracked," Kate said as he handed off the diapers. He couldn't resist going down to his knees to grin at Jake, who grinned back. Jake kicked his feet as his dad leaned over to blow a raspberry on his chubby belly. Kate, clean diaper in hand, stood off to the side and watched with a smile. Way back when, she'd fallen for Rick the Daddy, and now seeing him up close with his kids made her love him even more. Even these little moments with the kids made her warm inside. But then the thought of the other two alone in the kitchen made her alert her husband. "Hey, you'd better check on Lily and Reece. They've been alone long enough!" Rick turned his head to look at her and smirked.

"Yeah, they are half Rogers and half Beckett. No telling what they got up to in the five minutes I've been in here," but he did get up and start walking back to the kitchen as Kate swatted at his arm and laughed. When he got outside the room, his smirk changed to a frown. Cheerios were all over the floor – Rick had forgotten that Reece liked to drop things off the side of his high chair's tray – and he now had mashed banana all over his face, fingers and yes, even in his hair. But that was the least of his problems.

It appeared that Lily had grown bored of just drawing, and somehow managed to get hold of the glitter. Their girl loved glitter, and they had learned to monitor her use of it. She had taken advantage of his absence to sprinkle it all over her picture and then all over the table. When she heard his footsteps, she lifted her head and grinned at him. "Look Daddy! My picture is shiny now!"

"Yeah, baby, it is," he answered. He didn't want to stifle her artistic side, but he didn't want to clean up a mess every time he turned his back. And somehow, he needed to clean up before his wife saw it but he soon realized that would be impossible, since Kate walked out of the room a few minutes after he did. When she saw the mess their two kids had made, she did exactly what he'd thought she'd do: she laughed. She laughed loudly and he had to join in. "Happy Valentine's Day, Kate!" he said as she put Jake in his high chair. They each took a messy kid and started to clean.

While he cleaned up Lily's mess, he thought back to previous Valentine's Day the two of them had celebrated. He remembered her offer to take him for a drink after they arrested Damian for paying for his dad's murder. He remembered their first Valentine's as a couple, when he had messed up and put her present in Vicky Gates' jacket pocket. (A few years ago, she had admitted to knowing they were a couple by then and had enjoyed teasing him by making him sweat it out.) He remembered Valentine's dinners in fancy restaurants with the two of them all dressed up. He remembered candlelit dinners at home with a baby Lily sleeping in her nursey upstairs.

Now Valentine's Day would most likely be celebrated with two adorable boys and a pretty girl. It would include two high chairs and a booster seat. The meal would be chicken nuggets and applesauce for the big sister and rice cereal for her little brothers. Mom and Dad would hope to be able to eat some of their dinner while it was still a reasonable temperature. Then it would include bath time with lots of splashing and then cuddles with the smell of apple shampoo in his nostrils. He and Kate would take turns reading the kids' favorite books, and then they would cuddle their babies one more time before putting two sweet boys into their cribs and tucking a sweet girl into her bed, leaving a night light glowing in each bedroom.

Yes, Valentine's Day was different for Castle and Beckett now, but they wouldn't have it any other way. And when he looked up and caught Kate's eye as she cleaned the last of the mashed banana off of Reece's face, he could see that she felt the same way. She smiled at him softly and said, "Happy Valentine's Day, Rick!"

 **A/N: This story popped in my head this morning, and it just had to come out. Happy Valentine's Day to everyone!**


End file.
